11/18/2004 9:30:00 AM GMT

Source: Metro West Daily News

Wayland Police are probing the origin of an anti-Islamic flier that allegedly accused a local Islamic group of funding terrorists while law enforcement protected the group from "citizen retribution.

Residents living near the Wayland-based Islamic Center of Boston received the anti-Islamic flier in their mailboxes on Monday.

The Police, however, believe the flier was not only distributed in that neighborhood after letter carriers found many other copies across the town over the last couple of days.

"It could be more than an isolated, one-day affair," said Police Chief Robert Irving.

The headline of the flier reads; "Wayland Residents Beware," and the typewritten flier alleged the Islamic Center of Boston raised money and supported terrorism in the United States and hosted many of the Sept. 11 attackers.

"Very few of us are aware that this (is) where six of the 9-11 hijackers stayed while planning (their) attacks on America on Sept. 11," the flier said.

The anti-Islamic flier, with both grammatical and spelling mistakes, also claims that the ICB held a "going away party" for the attackers while Wayland police were deployed to secure the event. It alleges that police protected the ICB campus for a year after Sept. 11.

Wayland police Lt. Bruce Cook strongly rejected the allegations made against the department, describing the flier as "offensive and untrue."

Police increased patrols around the ICB site and local synagogues after Sept. 11 as security measures, but did not deploy officers at the Islamic group's site.

Police Chief Irving denounced the flier and demanded the residents to contact the police if they know anything about who wrote or distributed the flier.

"We certainly condemn this kind of activity," said Irving, adding that he had contacted members of the ICB and that they were "very upset" about the incident.

Those who placed the fliers in residents' mailboxes could face charges of violating federal laws that ban placing anything that is not legal mail into a mailbox. "It is a violation of U.S. Postal regulations," Iving said.

Selectmen Chairwoman Betsy Connolly also said that she is very upset about the flier, calling it a "hate crime." "Wayland is not a discrimination-oriented community," she said.

A Wayland resident who found the flier in the mailbox on Monday said that its message "intolerable." The resident, who demanded anonymity for fear of retribution, hailed the ICB for its work in the town.

"I feel they've been doing wonderful outreach in Wayland continually long before Sept. 11," she said. "They've been interested in reaching out to the community."

The Islamic Center of Boston could not be reached for comment.